Bracket



(No Model.)

W. D. GR'IDLEY.

BRACKET.

No. 520,564. Patented May 29, 1894.

[.HJI E5585. W E a E NATIDNAL umcsaumma comP WASHINGYON n c WILMER D. GRIDLEY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

B RAG K ET'.

$PEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 520,564, dated May 29, 1894. Application filed February 15, 1894. Serial No. 500,251- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILMER D. GRIDLEY, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have inventedanew and useful Improvement in Brackets, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in brackets in which provision is made for setting up the bracket, either as a stationary or swinging bracket, and for applying to it one or more horizontal branches and a vertical joint for extending it vertically and providing it with one or more additional groups of horizontally extending branches or with a single support, as may be desired.

The gist of my invention lies in the structure and arrangement of the supporting piece and the end of the main arm of the bracket, by which it is either set up as a swinging or as a stationary bracket; in the socket piece at the end of the main arm of the bracket, to form at the same time a connection between the main arm and the Vertical joint uprising therefrom and a support for one or more horizontally extending branches and in the gravity latch which, in counection'with the screwthreaded connection of one of the supports with the arm, serves to prevent the unintentional unscrewing of the support.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents, in side elevation, the main arm of the bracket connected with its supporting 4 or base plate as a swinging arm and showing the socket piece, a vertical j ointand one horizontal arm, the vertical joint and horizontal arm being provided with supports suitablefor example-for holding flower pots, the

socket piece and supports being represented as nearly screwed home with their gravity latches about to fall behind the catches. Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the main bracket arm connected with the base piece as a sta tionary arm and the socket piece and supports screwed home with their gravity latches in locked position behind the notches. Fig. 3 is a view in detail, showing a vertical section through the socket piece. Fig. 4. shows a Vertical section through one of the flower pot supports and its connection with the end of the vertical joint, and Fig. dis a face view, upon a larger scale, of the base piece for securing the bracket to the wall.

The base piece is denoted, as a whole, by A. It is of elongated fiat form and provided at its opposite ends with recesses a and a for the reception of the shank of a supporting screw of ordinary form. Intermediate of its ends it is provided with elongated open-- ings a and a each of its openings also being provided at its opposite ends with contracted recesses, similar to a and a, for the reception of the shanks of the supporting screws. Around the contracted recesses for the reception of the screw shanks,the face of the base or plate A is depressed, as shown for example at a so that when the head of the screw'is forced down into such depressed portion of the plate, the said head of the screw end not only looks the plate against displacement outwardly away from the wallbut also in the direction of its length. The several recesses in the ends of the plateand at the ends of the openings of and a are so distanced from each other that, if three screws be set permanently in the wall, at the distance apart denoted by the dotted positions in Fig. 5, the plate A may be reversed end for end and when placed upon the same screws, they will be found to occupy the recesses at the opposite ends of the openings a a and the recess a so that the plate A may be adjusted in either of two reversed positions upon the same screws at pleasure, and this may be accomplished by simply loosening the screws a turn or two and without removing them from the wall, the

openings a and a being of sufficient width at their central portions to admit the full head of the screw through them. Across the outer face of the plate A there are formed a pair of bridge pieces a and a spaced at their middle portions away from the face of the body of the plate A to receive underneath them the ends of the cross head at the end of the bracket arm, and one of the bridge pieces, in the present instance, a", is provided with lugs a and a projecting from one of its sides and in position to receive the bracket arm between them.

The main arm of the bracket is denoted by B. It is provided at its end, which is to be connected with the plate A with the cross head having a longer upper projection 11 and a shorter lower projection b. The said projections b and I) being adapted to enterbeneath the central portion of the bridge pieces a and a", as denoted in Figs. 1 and 2. The arm B also is provided with laterally projecting lugs b at its cross head and in such position that when the base plate A is arranged with the bridge piece a downward, as shown in Fig. 2 and the arm B is adjusted in position, the lugs 19 will abut against the faces of the lugs a a and will hold the arm B stationary. When, however, the plate A is reversed, as shown in Fig. 1, the lugs b will meet no obstruction and the. arm B may be freely swung from side to side.

The outer or free end of the arm B is provided with a screw-threaded tip 5 for the reception of either a socket piece 0 for the purpose of extending the bracket in branch form from this point, or it may receive one of the flower pot or other supports directly at its end. In the present instance,I have shown it provided with a socket piece 0, which piece consists of a central hub 0, having screw-threaded openings extending vertically therethrough, the lower portion of which is fitted to receive the screw-threaded tip b on the main arm. Around the hub portion 0, the said socket piece 0 is provided with elongated sockets c, in the present instance three such sockets being shown, and located at equal distances apart around the periphery of the hub c. The sockets c are intended to receive cross heads don the ends of the branch arms D and to this end they are provided with openings in their outer faces through which the heads D are to be inserted and they are further provided with openings c at their inner faces in order that the head D may have its branch, which is first entered within the socket, extended temporarily through the opening 0 until the opposite branch of the head 01 shall have passed within the opening in the outer face of the socket, when the latter-by dropping down into its seat-as indicated in Fig. 3-will, at the same time, permit the end of the hub which was projected through the opening 0 to return within the socket.

When one or more of the lateral branches D have been inserted within the sockets, they may be locked in position by means of the vertical joint E, provided with a screwthreaded tip e, adapted to screw into the upper end of the screw-threaded opening in the hub 0, thereby bringing the larger base portion of the joint E into position opposite the openings 0 at the rear of the sockets 0" so that, by no manipulation of the horizontal branch D, can it be removed from the socket until the vertical joint E shall have been removed. The upper end of the joint E is pro vided with a screw-threaded tip, quite similar to the tip 5 at the end of the main arm B, so that it may in turn receive either a flower pot support, as shown, or a second socket piece quite similar to C might be screwed thereon for receiving asecond group of branches and, in turn, a second vertical joint in the same manner as that already described. The branch or branches D are also provided at their free ends with the screwthreaded tips quite similar to the tip b of the main arm B, so that they may receive-at their free ends-:either a socket piece 0 or a flower pot support, as shown.

The flower pot supports are denoted by F, they may be of any well known or approved structure, so far as their general characteristics are concerned, and are each provided with screw-threaded hub pieces f at the center for receiving some one of the screwthreaded tips at the ends of the main arm or its branches, or at the top of the vertical joint.

The supports F, as well as the vertical joint E and the sockets 0, are provided with depending gravity latches G, located a short distance from the central point of attachment and so connected with their respective parts as to permit them to swing freely in the circular plane in which their point of attachment to the part travels, while that part is being screwed into position. On the several parts to which the supports, the vertical joint and the socket piece are to be secured, there are formed permanent notches g which occupy a position in the path in which the depending latch G is carried by the part when being screwed on, and the notches G are so shaped that when the part carrying the latch is being screwed on, the latter will ride freely over the catch without interrupting the turning of the part but, when the part is screwed home, any attempt to unscrew it will, before it has made a complete turn, bring the depending latch G against the face of the catch g, and the latch not being permitted to swing in the opposite direction past a vertical position, it will be impossible to further unscrew the part without intentionally lifting the latch over the catch.

This simple device for automatically looking the part in its attached adjustments obviates the danger from unscrewing any of the parts by the common practice of giving a flower pot support awhirl to bring the different sides of the plant to the sunlight and in general provides against any unintentional unscrewing of the part.

The main arm B of the bracket may be inserted in its position in connection with the base plate A at pleasure and the plate A may be reversed at any moment by simply slackening the screws a little. The whole structure may be varied from time to time by adding branches, or by'removing them, as may be desired.

It is obvious that slight changes might be resorted to in the form and arrangement of the several parts without departing from the. spirit and scope of my invention, hence I do not wish to limit myself strictly to the structure herein set forth, but

What I claim is- 1. The combination with a reversible supporting plate, provided with sockets for the reception of the ends of a cross head, of a bracket arm provided with a cross head adapted to enter the said sockets, the reversible supporting plate and the cross head being provided with interlocking lugs, in position to hold the arm stationary when the plate is in one position and to permit it to swing when the plate is in a reversed position, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination withabracket arm having a screw-threaded tip, of a supporting piece having a screw-threaded socket to receive the tip, a swinging gravity latch depending from the supporting piece and a catch to engage the latch to prevent the unscrewing of the supporting piece beyond a predetermined limit, substantially as set forth.

or arms in the sockets, substantially as set forth. I

WILMER D. GRIDLEY. Witnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES,

GEORGE BARRY. 

